The inventions relate to transporting ice from an ice source to an ice destination located remotely from the ice source. In particular, the inventions are directed to transporting ice using a tapered auger.
Many different types of ice makers are readily available in the marketplace. One type of ice maker uses an auger that is rotatably mounted within a cylindrical chamber of an evaporator. Water is supplied to the cylindrical chamber and the evaporator causes the water to form ice crystals on an inner cylindrical surface of the evaporator. As the auger rotates, the flight of the auger scrapes the ice crystals off the inner cylindrical surface of the evaporator and advances the scraped ice crystals toward an extruding head. As the ice crystals are forced through the extruding head, flaked ice chunks are formed.
An auger-typed ice maker can have the auger disposed within its evaporator in either a vertical orientation or a horizontal orientation. Examples of vertical auger-type ice makers are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,497,184 to Utter et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,576,016 to Nelson and U.S. Pat. No. 5,394,708 to Whinery et al. For each of these examples, the ice scraped from the inner surface of the evaporator by the auger is transported to the top of the evaporator at the top end of the flight. From this point, the ice is typically discharged horizontally.
Examples of horizontal auger-type ice makers are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,267,672 to Jacobsen et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 4,533,310 to Spinner. The auger used in Spinner has a helical flight that is defined in part by an imaginary cylindrical surface and in part by an imaginary frusto-conical surface. As the helical flight scrapes the ice off the evaporator, the ice is advanced along the imaginary cylindrical surface and through the imaginary frusto-conical surface while simultaneously being extruded. The extruded ice is then discharged horizontally.
In Jacobsen et al., a rotatable auger is disposed horizontally within an ice chest and directs ice through an opening into a tubular conduit. A flexible looped cable extends through the tubular conduit and plastic paddles are fixed to the cable at spaced intervals. The paddles contact the ice received within the conduit and advance the ice through the conduit to an overhead destination. Again, the ice is discharged from the auger horizontally. However, soon thereafter, a paddle device transports the ice overhead i.e. vertically.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,328,681 to Sakamoto et al. teaches an ice maker that uses a vertically-oriented evaporator and an auger vertically disposed therein. The ice produced by the ice maker of Sakamoto et al. is continuously transported from the evaporated vertically through a flexible pipe to an ice-storing chamber positioned above the evaporator. The ice is continuously transported as a result of the rotational movement of the auger.
Although auger-type ice makers are effective in producing ice, current auger-type ice makers have not been used to transport ice to destinations that are located remotely therefrom. However, there are ice transporting systems available in the marketplace that can be used in conjunction with any type of ice maker. Such ice transporting systems are described as examples in U.S. Pat. No. 3,877,241 to Wade and U.S. Pat. No. 4,104,889 to Hoenish.
Wade discloses an ice transporting system for an ice maker that transports ice to any one of a plurality of ice storage bins by means of a flowing body of fluid such as pressurized air. Hoenish teaches an ice transporting system that transports ice from a first location to one or more remote second locations that are connected to each other with a conduit system. A source of air causes the ice to move through the conduit system from one location to the other locations. Although these ice transporting systems are effective in transporting ice from an ice source to a remote ice destination, supplementing an auger-type ice maker with such a system requires significant capital equipment and expenditure.
It is an object of the invention to provide an ice transporting assembly and ice making and transporting system that is particularly suitable for auger-type ice makers.
Another object of the invention is to provide an ice transporting assembly and ice making and transporting system that is capable of transporting ice either horizontally or vertically from an ice source to an ice destination located remotely from the ice source.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide an ice transporting assembly and an ice making and transporting system that can be retro-fitted onto existing auger-type ice makers.
A still further object of the invention is to provide an ice transporting assembly and an ice making transporting system using nominal equipment and expenditure.
Accordingly, an ice transporting assembly, an ice making and transporting system and a method for transporting ice of the invention are hereinafter described. One embodiment of the ice transporting assembly of the invention transports ice and includes a sleeve and a tapered auger. The sleeve defines a frusto-conically shaped channel with an inlet having an inlet diameter and an outlet have an outlet diameter less than the inlet diameter. The tapered auger is mounted for rotation within the sleeve and sized and adapted for positional agreement with the frusto-conically shaped channel. Ice at the inlet is transported through the frusto-conically shaped channel and out of the outlet by rotating the tapered auger about a rotational axis.
Another embodiment of the invention is an ice transporting assembly for transporting ice that includes a reducing sleeve and a tapered auger. The reducing sleeve includes an upstream conduit section having an upstream conduit diameter, a downstream conduit section having a downstream conduit diameter which is less than the upstream conduit diameter and a tapered conduit section interposing the upstream conduit section and the downstream conduit section. The tapered conduit section has an interior surface defining a tapered channel. The tapered auger is mounted for rotation within the tapered conduit section and is sized and adapted for positional agreement within the tapered channel. When the ice is advanced through the upstream conduit section and into the tapered conduit section, the ice is transported by the rotating tapered auger through the tapered conduit section and into the downstream conduit section.
Another exemplary embodiment of the invention is an ice making and transporting system that includes an ice making evaporator unit, an ice scraping auger, an extruding unit and an ice transporting assembly as described above. The ice making evaporator unit extends along and about a vertical axis and terminates at a top end. The ice scraping auger is mounted for rotation along and about the vertical axis within the ice making evaporator unit. The extruding unit is connected to the top end of the ice making evaporator unit and includes an immoveable extruding head. The ice scraping auger rotates and scrapes the ice off the ice making evaporator unit and transports the scraped ice into the extruder unit to extrude the scraped ice to form ice chunks. In turn, the ice chunks are transported into the ice transporting assembly where the tapered auger connected to and rotating with the ice scraping auger transports the ice chunks vertically through the tapered conduit section and the downstream conduit section.
Another embodiment of the invention is a method for transporting ice from an ice source to an ice destination that is located remotely from the ice source. One step includes providing a reducing sleeve as described above. Another step is positioning the reducing sleeve above the ice source and in a vertical orientation. Another step is transporting the ice sequentially from the ice source, through the upstream conduit section, the tapered section and the downstream conduit section into the remote ice destination.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the exemplary embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. dr
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a first exemplary embodiment of an ice transporting assembly of the invention.
FIG. 2 is a side elevational view partially in cross section of the ice transporting assembly in FIG. 1.
FIG. 3 is a side elevational view partially in cross section of the ice transporting assembly of the invention with a tapered auger with a cutting edge cutting ice chunks.
FIG. 4 is a side elevational view partially in cross section of a second exemplary embodiment of an ice transporting assembly of the invention that includes an auger-type evaporator unit and the ice transporting assembly of the invention.
FIG. 5 is a diagrammatical view of the ice making and transporting system of the invention illustrating how ice made in an auger-type ice maker flows through the system into various vertical and horizontal ice destinations located remotely from the ice maker.
FIG. 6 is a side elevational view partially in cross section showing an ice transporting assembly with a detachable upstream conduit section.